5 months have already passed since the last edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. After Destiny’s victory at the Arena Armeets with her entry ”Not My Soul”, it all pointed Malta to be in the running to host the contest again and today, EBU and Maltese public broadcaster PBS confirmed the so much awaited news.
As the main difference from the first time they hosted it, this time not the whole island is name as the hosting area but the capital city Valletta.
JuniorEurovision.tv informed: ”The 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will see several format changes, following intense work by the EBU, the Contest’s Steering Group, and PBS as host broadcaster. This year the event will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 20 November and will be held across several locations around Valletta”. (Will one of these actually be Mediterranean Conference Centre?! – this venue hosted most of the Maltese national preselections for Eurovision and it is also the place where Destiny took the crown which led her to represent Malta last year).
“Within the Steering Group we have been discussing how to improve and further the JESC format,” said Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor for Junior Eurovision 2016. “Many members, including some not taking part, felt that the timeslot was not suited to children and family viewing, so we have tried to bring the competition to a time more fitting for this type of event”, Sand declares.
New executive supervisor after unexpected and unfortunate Vladislav Yakovlev’s dismissal from his position, Jon Ola Sand, also said that on behalf of the EBU, he is very excited that PBS agreed to host the event again, and is also looking forward to working with them after the benchmark that they set back in 2014.
PBS CEO Anton Attard, is taking again his 2014 role as Executive Producer. He is thrilled to organise the event again: “Within PBS we have tried to challenge every aspect of Junior Eurovision, based on our experience of hosting in 2014. We can again promise a high-quality production, together with some new additions to the format, as well as our Maltese hospitality to everyone who joins us in Malta this November.”
More details about this year’s competition will be revealed soon. The EBU and PBS will hold a joint press conference in Stockholm at the Eurovision Song Contest in May.